Our Economy Is Too Valuable for Political Games

We may not be surprised, but we sure are disappointed to hear that House Republicans are playing political games with our country’s economy. Ezra Klein writes in the Washington Post about how Republicans are taking a “wait and see” approach, despite warnings from economists, military leaders, and policy experts:

“In Washington, the Republican hatred of tax increases is treated as less a policy position than a law of nature, like gravity, or the sun rising in the East. This permits it to escape serious scrutiny. But in this case, it deserves some."

“The result is that Republicans feel that negotiations with the White House are both substantively and politically fruitless. Boehner literally isn’t sure his speakership could survive further negotiations with the White House — particularly if they end in some kind of compromise. So Republicans have decided to see what happens if they simply don’t negotiate.”

“Undergirding this decision is a certain level of comfort with the cuts in the sequester, if not their across-the-board nature.”

According to Chris Frates in the National Journal, this is being done to quell uprisings within their own party, despite the risk to the economy:

“If the sequester sets off a market panic and a public backlash, House Republican leaders will be forced to the negotiating table. But many Republicans think a crisis would also soften conservative intransigence toward cutting a deal. Obama understands this and that is why he is trying to bring the pressure of the presidential pulpit to bear on lawmakers.”

“Ultimately, Republicans are betting that sequestration won’t send the economy into a tailspin.”

Instead of bowing to radical and extreme positions, we think Republicans should come to the negotiating table to reach a bipartisan compromise to avert the sequester. It’s not too late to reach an agreement, and our economy is too valuable for Republicans’ reckless and pointless political games.